PrintAugust 28, 2011
Multitasking? NHS nurses wear 'Do Not Disturb' uniforms
Oh the joys of socialized medicine. In a move that the nurses union no doubt considers a breakthrough in modern medical treatment, NHS nurses are wearing 'Do Not Disturb' signs.
The UK Daily Mail reports that after a successful trial at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, a NHS pilot program to have nurses wear bright red tabards with 'DO NOT DISTURB. DRUG ROUND IN PROGRESS' in bold white letters on the front will be implemented in hospitals across the nation.
In a victory for both organized labor and the NHS, nurses can now fully concentrate on one simple task and refuse to address other concerns of their patients. "What we do when interrupted is simply turn around to face the patient and point to the words," proclaimed one of the NHS angels of mercy. Improvements will undoubtedly be made as the system is refined, perhaps the NHS could put the 'Do Not Disturb' warning on the back of the tabards which would save the nurses from having to turn around and face the patient.
Patients have been meekly submitting to the new prohibition, rather than risk the wrath of the nurses. Move over Florence Nightingale, Nurse Ratched is on her rounds and she's looking really angry.
Joyce Robins with the advocacy group Patient Concern has called the new uniform regulations 'grotesque and ridiculous.'
She said: 'If you're a nurse and you can't do more than one thing at a time, you're a pretty hopeless nurse. It sends patients completely the wrong message.'They already see nurses as too important to disturb or too lazy to help and you're very vulnerable lying there in a hospital bed when your buzzer doesn't work and no one comes.'Often the drug round is the only time you see a nurse to talk to them. Now these red tabards will send out a further "get off me" signal.
Don't panic, that could never happen here in America. Still it might be a good idea to pray for the good health of five members of the Supreme Court.
August 28, 2011
